1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a method for measuring and analyzing bioluminescence and an apparatus for measuring and analyzing bioluminescence. This invention also contains a program for real-time monitoring and analyzing of bioluminescence data such as circadian bioluminescence rhythms. This invention is preferably useful in genetic screening of mutants for the research of gene expression, especially, research for the biological rhythms using bioluminescence reporter genes. Herein, the rhythm measurement and analysis is originated from that the biometry repeats one day periodic cycle with time within several days of measurement and analysis.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In a conventional measurement of bioluminescence, a tabular software program and an analysis software program for data processing can not be driven with a control software program of a bioluminescence measurement device simultaneously because the CPU is overloaded and OS (operation system) in the computer become to be unstable. In this point of view, measurement results are stored as text file in a memory of the bioluminescence measurement apparatus through the control on the control software program, transferred into the tabular software program, and analyzed in data by utilizing an external software program (see, Non-Patent document 1).
[Non-patent document 1]
“Novel features of Drosophila period transcription revealed by real-time luciferase reporting” by Christian Brandes et al., Neuron, Vol. 16, pp687–692
Therefore, the measurement results can not be recognized in real-time by an operator, so that the measurement condition and the like can not be controlled flexibly on the measurement results. Moreover, since the conventional bioluminescence measurement apparatus does not contain any statistical processing functions, we can not analyze large-scaled measurement results rapidly and it requires much time in the judgment of the results (in this case, the measurement is stopped). Particularly, it requires much time in the selection of mutants in a large-scaled genetic screening of mutant using bioluminescence. Therefore, the bioluminescence measurement apparatus can not be utilized effectively.
Bioluminescence real-time measurement is effective in the comprehensive screening of mutants relating to the key gene expression because we can monitor gone expression continuously as bioluminescence from living cells, so expected as effective measurement in comprehensive analysis of genome function. With conventional bioluminescence measurement apparatus, however, a large-scaled measurement and analysis can not be realized.